Today, Earth scientists' goals are to not
only observe weather
patterns around our world, but to determine the causes and effects of
climate and environmental change. With increasingly sophisticated
satellite remote sensors, we can measure a wide range of geophysical
parameters (such as surface temperature, distribution of clouds and
aerosol particles, the abundance of trace gases in the atmosphere, or
the distribution and types of life on land and in the ocean) with
unprecedented accuracy and resolution. Moreover, we can now measure how
changing certain aspects of the climate system (such as cloud cover) can
have a "ripple effect" through other aspects of the climate system (such
as surface temperature, precipitation, the radiation budget).
Scientists are feeding these new satellite data, collected throughout
the Earth's climate system, into sophisticated new computer models that,
ultimately, will enable them to predict climate changes months, years,
or even decades before they occur. If we are to become better stewards
of our home planetif we are to leave abundant natural resources to our
grandchildren and to their grandchildrenthen we must continue
monitoring our planet with satellite sensors ever improving our
understanding of how the Earth system works.

Left: This pair of views
looking
south from the Tibetan Plateau over the Himalayas
to the Indian sub-continent shows the Earth's surface from two different angles.
(Satellite data were combined
with elevation data to generate the perspective view.) The top picture was taken
by
the Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) as it flew directly over the
terrain. The
bottom picture was taken by MISR looking 70° forward. At high angles, haze
and pollution
scatter light very strongly, resulting in the fuzzy blue tint of the lower image.
MISR will
help scientists understand the role of aerosols and clouds in the Earth's
climate. (Images courtesy
MISR science team, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.)